Stencil-card.



E. D. BELKNAP STENCIL CARD.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 2. I914.

Patented $45M. 11, 191?.

O O O 0 O O 6 K II |I4 0 6 O O k ll lilLlllLll I TTOR/VEY EDWIN ID. Bennair;- or EAST cannon, NEW JERSEY.

STENCIL-CARD.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented se t. ii, rare.

Application filed 0ctober2, 1914. Serial No. 864,687.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWIN D. BELKNAP, a citizen ofithe United States of America, residing atEast Orange, county of Essex, State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and usetul Improvements in Stencil- Gards, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to stenciled sheets or cards bearing the addresses of customers or other persons to whom mail is to be addressed and which stenciled sheets or cards are employed in connection with automatic printing machinery to address envelops, wrappers or other mailable matter to the persons whose addresses are so stenciled on the cards or sheets. i The/particular improvement hereinafter st out relates to cards of this type which are formed of fairly stifl' paperof uniform thickness having the names and address stenciled in a portion thereof by an apparatus which cuts out a portion of each character, as in an ordinary metal stencil. It is especially ap licable to such stencil cards or sheets whic adapted to receive a printed, stamped or written record of various data relating to the person whose name and address is stenciled .infthe card proper, such as are employed bymail-orderand large wholesale concerns.

Cards of thi'sftcharacter are used 'to print a mailing .fl'l co CLI i addressesl's'tanciled therein by running the cards series through a printing mechanism which assembles each card with an en;

velop,wrapper, or strip of paper to be printed, and forces inkthrough the stenciled por-- tions onto'the surface of'the associated envelopor other article, which is to be ad- 'dressedf- 'When not in use these cards are.

stackefdfone upon another in a suitable magaf-f zine, "and when in use they are drawn one by zyionef-from such magazine,

for use. After each printing operation a considerable amount of ink is left in the cutness of the'material in which the characters in pulling them from a stack in one magaaine and, collecting them .in a stack in an- 'i'jth'er, there is a pronounced tendency for'the ink retained in andabout these pockets to have in addition to the stenciled area an extension bossed portions,

forced through the -printing apparatus and delivered to another rn'agazine for storage till another occasion smear over, or print the address on the adjacent cards, thus blurring the legibility of the stenciled, printed or written legends on such adjacent cards. While this blurring may not greatly interfere with the usefulness of the stenciled portion as a printing means, it has a serious effect on the legibility of the printed or written data on the record bearing extensions of such cards or sheets, and my invention is designed to avoid this as far as possible'with this type of cards.

The best form of construction embodying my invention, and certain modifications thereof, are illustrated in the accompanying sheet of drawings in which- "Figure 1 is a face View, showing an embossed card of this type;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged detail cross section on line 2 -2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a face view of another form of embossed card with parts broken away;

Fig. 4 is an'enlarged detail cross section 'on line 44 of Fig. 3, and

Flg. 5 is asimilar section showing a further modification.

Throughout the drawings like reference characters indicate like parts.

1, represents .the stenciled area or portion of each car, and 2, the extension, suitably lined or otherwise adapted to receive the record data which may be written, typed or stamped thereon in any convenient manner, and the preservation of the legibility of which is the main object of my invention.

In Figs. 1 and 2, the separating means for section 1 of the card is produced by em- 5, 5, which are produced by a projection on the face ofeach stenciling die or type, which comes into operation when the character is stenciled. As shown an embossed portion is over each character, but it might be located otherwise with reference thereto. As each card has a different number of characters, differently spaced and located, at least some of the projections formed on the back of one card by the embossing action .will fail to register with or nest in, any corresponding depressions formed on the face of the next card in the stack by the embossing thereof, and so the desired oH-setting action will be produced. In the form shown in Figs. 3 and 4, the

= embossing is done by a common and separate 'gether therein.

embossed, distended portions are made larger and deeper than in Fig. 1, and are subsequently partly flattened or upset as shown in Fig. 4 so that the. pro ections formed on the back of one card Will not nest in the corresponding depressions formed in the face of the next card, although they register therewith when the cards are assembled in a stack. Thus the separating action is again produced. In this form of my invention the embossing would not be done by the stenciling dies, but all the cards would be separately embossed by subjecting them to the action of an embossing die before or after the stenciling.

In the modification illustrated in'Fig. 5, the embossing is again done by a common and separate die, but the protuberances 8, formed on the back of the card are not upset, any nesting action being prevented, and the separating action secured, by pasting a thin strip of paper, 9, along the face of the card over the depressions formed by the embossing die.

In operation with each of the forms of card illustrated, the ink carrying pockets formed by the cutout portions of the stenciled characters are prevented from rubbing over the faces of either the record bearing portions, 2, or the stenciled portions 1, of the nextcard in the stack, both While in rel ative motion in passing in and out of the magazines and when stacked and pressed to- I-Ience the records written or printed or stamped on the section 2, of any card are not defaced and rendered illegible by having the stenciled matter of the upper card smeared or overlaid thereon. In the same way, the stenciled portion 1 of each card has its legibility preserved from blurring by the overlaying on it of the stenciled legend on an adjacent card.

Other devices for producing the separating action desired might be devised to produce the same result by equivalent means operating in substantially the same manner which would also employ the broad principle of my invention. I

Having described my invention, I claim;

1. A card of substantially uniform thickness having a portion of its area in which there is provision for stenciling a mailing address and a long extension at one side ruled for the reception of data to be printed thereon, said portion to be stenciled being provided with means for separating it from a similar card when superposed thereon, said means comprising projections from aplurality of points scattered over the back of the card.

2. A card of substantially uniform thickness having a portion of its area in which there is provision for stenciling a mailing address and a long extension at one side ruled for the reception of data to be printed thereon, said portion to be stenciled being provided with means for separating it from a similar card when superposed thereon, said means comprising portions offset from a plurality of points scattered over the back of the card and devices for preventing similar oflset portions from another card entering the depressions formed in the face of the first card by the offset portions thereof.

EDWIN D. BELKNAP.

Witnesses:

FRANK G. Hmoron, MAI FILES; 

